Chelated Supplements

by Teej
(Boulder, CO)

Hi, can you tell us the difference between chelated supplements vs whole food supplements?

Also, how do we find the right type of ingestible silver? I just read an article about it on a water purification website.

Would LOVE your tips on this. Thank you!!

Hi Teej,

Chelated supplements are usually mineral supplements. Chelate is actually a chemical term that describes the molecular structure of the substance. I read about it in several places, and to put it in everyday language, a mineral such as calcium, magnesium, or iron may be found in many different forms. The chelated form is usually the form of the mineral found in living things, so it is generally considered to be more bio-available.

Therefore, it is probably the more healthful form of the mineral to take as a supplement because your body will be able to use it more easily. The only exception is if the chelated form of the mineral is contaminated with something else. (I read in one place that you have to be careful with chelated calcium because it may be contaminated with lead)

Due to the above facts chelated minerals are frequently more expensive then those that aren't, since they can't just go out and mine them, and then sell them to you as a supplement.

However, if you get a cheaper supplement that isn't a chelated form, frequently your body won't be able to use it at all, or a very small percentage of it can be used, so most of it is just passed through the digestive tract and eliminated. In this case you'd be throwing your money away. So when it comes to minerals, chelated forms are usually better.

On the other hand, whole food supplements are entirely different. Rather than being one nutrient, such as a mineral, a whole food supplement is a combination of nutrients that are also found in the food they were taken from.

Theoretically you could get the same health benefits by eating enough of the food. But although it seems that would be a cheaper and easier route to go, sometimes it isn't practical.

I think a couple of examples will make this more understandable. I take at least two supplements that are whole food supplements.

The first is called a cruciferous vegetable extract. I take it to avoid a recurrence of cancer. (Cruciferous vegetables are things like broccoli, cabbage, and brussel sprouts.) Some people would take the supplement because they don't like those vegetables, but that isn't my reason for taking it.

I take it because to get the same health benefits I get from the supplement, I would have to eat

10 to 12 servings of those vegetables on a daily basis. Although I like all of them, I don't like them that much.

The second is a supplement called Stem Enhance. It is a concentrated superfood. It has been shown in placebo controlled double blind studies, to enable your body to release 25 to 30% more adult stem cells for a period of four to six hours after each dose.

That means you have three or four million more adult stem cells circulating in your body to help you heal. This supplement is my top pick because it will actually help you overcome any health challenge you may be facing.

But why don't I just recommend the food? Well the food is actually a form of blue gree algae, and I don't know too many people who'd enjoy eating that!

However, even if you enjoyed the taste of algae, or you decided to get it from someplace like Wal-Mart as a supplement, you'd have to take 25 to 30 blue green algae pills, (over five grams of the algae) to get the same effect as taking two of the Stem Enhance.

I used to take that many before they developed the Stem Enhance, but I've never known anyone else who was willing to do it.

So whole food supplements are easier to take, and usually provide greater health benefits because of their concentrated/extracted forms, than do the whole foods they are made from.

An additional benefit is since they are a concentration of a nutrient already found in nature, they may provide synergistic benefits due to the concentration or combination of nutrients, that medical science still fails to understand or appreciate.

For example, it has only been in the last six years that scientists figured out what the exact health benefit of the blue green algae is and have been able to concentrate it to provide a product that supports adult stem cell release, but I've been enjoying those health benefits for far longer by taking large amounts of that whole food supplement.

Finally, ingestible silver is widely available. It is called colloidal silver.

Probably my top recommendation for this product would be from an organization called Health Freedom USA. They do a lot of explaining about the value of collodial silver in their materials.

However, you can find collodial silver products at Life Extension Foundation
Vitamin World, or Vitacost. I'm sure this list isn't exhaustive, but these are sources I'm confident usually provide reliable supplements.

I've bought supplements from all, but the first, myself, although I've never tried collodial silver. If you get some, please let us know what you think of it.